Chapter 4
FOUR
BULWARK
The Taygetan space grain didn't need the amount of ceiling space, and before the ship broke free, it hadn't had that kind of space.
The ship had lifted the ceiling in the room up to an excessive height, and I couldn't figure out why.
But there were other problems to address, one of which had been identified after the rest of the women had piled into the farm.
At first, they expressed relief to find one of their missing members, Carla, comfortably situated in a bedroom attached to the side of the farm.
Several people were very excited that she had painting materials to mark the walls.
However, it also raised the issue that the other missing person, Milly, was still unaccounted for.
All my queries about her to the system went ignored.
The chef, Noelle, had spent time staring out at the farmland while muttering to herself before loudly calling everyone back together for a meeting on the edge of the farm.
"We're going to run out of food," Noelle said.
The fragile calm shattered the moment she spoke. The gathering of women erupted into chatter at her proclamation, words layering on top of one another as sharp questions echoed off the massive domed ceiling.
Adesewa held up her hands, and the group fell quiet.
"Please explain in greater detail, Noelle," Adesewa said. "Are we running out of food in a week, in a month? What do you mean?"
"I can't give a specific timeline," Noelle said.
"As we are still finding new storage rooms and we don't know how many of those food cubes are stashed away in places we haven't discovered yet, but when we run out of those, what I can say is that this farm isn't going to be enough to sustain us.
We don't even know if this monocrop has the full nutritional complement we need; we don't even know if it is edible, or if they use it to make biofuel or anything at all! We don't know anything!"
Her voice rose as she spoke, until she was shouting the last words.
Panic, fear, my body language subroutine reported.
I saw the same fear in all of them, the tension in their shoulders, the grimaces and expressions they made.
It was the same fear that drove Mei to build an unsafe tool to cut through the walls of neurofilaments.
They lacked information. They were trapped on a spaceship they couldn't control or communicate with, headed toward a destination they couldn't control.
I hadn't fully recognized or understood the emotion, because it had sprouted from a sense of helplessness that was second nature to my entire existence.
I never had to worry about supplies or destinations or anything, because I couldn't do anything about it.
I had no control over my life up until the point where these humans had freed me from Plexus control.
I couldn't just promise them that the ship would take care of everything, because I didn't know that for certain. I knew it was likely that it intended to keep us all alive simply because it hadn't killed us yet.
But that wasn't reassuring.
These women needed reassurance, and from the way her knuckles whitened as she clenched her hands into fists, it was clear that Mei needed it too.
The ship wouldn't offer information, but I could.
"The crop is Taygetan space grain," I said.
"Humans have a similar appearance and biology to Taygetans, and this crop is what is used to produce your nutritional cubes.
It is a standard crop for Vaurelcar ships as it is engineered to have a broad, sticky root system that holds onto dirt and prevents the dirt from moving even in the event of zero gravity. "
"So it is edible," Noelle said, her hand going to her chin as she stared out at the field. "We're going to be okay."
"Yes and yes, but also no," I said. "You are correct that this field is not enough to sustain the needs of the ship as well as the guests.
The ship is large, and he has to eat too.
After acquiring your group, we made regular stops to restock on nutritional resources to maintain you in captivity until processing was complete. "
"We can start collecting our shit," Saoirse said. "Make some night soil and expand the farm."
"The ship already has a waste-to-fertilizer processing facility," I said. "Let me query if the ship is aware of the problem and likely has a plan to stop for resupply."
I sent a query to the ship's system regarding that.
A file came back, containing details on a single planet in a small red dwarf system.
It was uninhabited by intelligent life, which made it safer to approach while we were still in Calicium-controlled territory.
Calicium ships never bothered with uninhabited planets because it was much simpler to gather materials from planets with an existing workforce that could be exploited.
It was standard procedure to lie and manipulate the local population into stripping their own planets of valuable materials before bringing the population in for mass processing.
It was easier in populations that adulated emotionally dramatic leaders and allowed individuals to pursue excessive personal wealth.
Those individuals often abused the population for the Caliciums, accepting rewards in the form of technology that let them better control and manipulate their own population.
"We need more than there is likely a plan," Mei said, her arms crossed over her chest. "We're not all like Andrea, who puts faith in dick before actual information."
"We will be landing on an M-class planet shortly," I said, sending the planet details over to my brothers.
The women didn't have the implants necessary to receive files into their minds directly, so information would have to be disseminated to them verbally or via screens.
"I have received details. The crew will need to scan and gather materials the ship can process and use, including necessary nutritional components.
It is likely that the proteins will not be immediately digestible and will need onboard processing before being used. "
"I want to go on an away mission," Mei said, her voice firm, and several other women added their agreement to her statement. "Is the atmosphere breathable, or will I need a suit?"
"You are a guest in the system, not crew," I said. "You do not need to expose yourself to such a hazard."
Mei's eyes narrowed.
"I was classified as inventory just a short while ago, right?
" she demanded. "I don't care how I'm labeled in your system; I'm the only one who decides what I'm going to do with my time.
You have the choice of helping me get outfitted, or standing by while I build a suit on my own, but either way, I'm going to go outside when we land. "
That was that then. I needed to make an environmental suit.
The issue was, nothing like that was stored in the databanks.
My kind didn’t need environmental suits for a planet like that.
I didn’t know how to design or create something like that from scratch.
The way Mei had put together her tools was a unique skill, something that wouldn’t have occurred to me that someone would do until I observed her creative process.
"What if the planet is a good one to live on?" one of the women said. "We could just get off this ship and live there."
"The planet we will be harvesting materials from is tidally locked with a red dwarf, meaning its rotation is frozen in place.
Both sides are incompatible with your form of life, the only survivable area being the terminator zone, the twilight strip between the two sides," I said, deciding it was better to offer more information that would tell any of these women what they could or couldn't do after Mei’s last reaction.
"Because of the temperature differential between the two sides, there are strong, continuous global winds that would make long-term habitation unfavorable, even if the flora and fauna in the strip were digestible by your species without additional processing.
In addition, the only ships that can move freely in this area of space are Calicium vessels, which means that if you were detected on the planet, you would be picked up and processed. "
"Never mind then," said the same woman. "We should stay on the ship."
"I bet you we can make a suit to help us survive those conditions," Mei said. She looked up at me, and a thrill rushed through my body as our eyes met. "Bulwark, will you help me do that?"
"Yes," I said.
I didn’t know how I could help her, other than pointing out flaws as they arose, but the idea of spending that time with her as she worked through what it was she wanted to make and made something completely new without a blueprint to follow filled me with an eager anticipation.
Perhaps I could learn how to do that, to create something just from an idea in my head.
Mei clapped her hands together, a smile spreading across her face as that crease in her forehead smoothed away.
"Excellent," she said, rubbing the palms of her hands together.
"After you get the prototype built, we will need more," Adesewa added. "Sigidi can help you mass-produce them for everyone else who wants to go on the expedition."
I felt dismay at the idea of him being there, and the emotion was strange to me. Why would I feel so bothered by the idea of my brother joining in on the time I spent teaching Mei? I had watched him walk her through several of the machines in the manufacturing bay already.
I didn't know how to say that I didn't want him there, because that declaration didn't make any sense at all. I should want him there. It would be more efficient.
"I'll let him know when we get to that step," Mei said, effectively shutting him out of the initial stage of the developmental process.
Then she added another sentence that firmly shut another door of opportunity.
"I'll work with Bulwark on my own. My work process doesn’t do well with too many people around asking questions and interrupting my focus.
After we've made the prototype, I'll be happy to go over the steps and get feedback on it, but until then I'd appreciate it if everyone respects my work focus needs unless they have a specific skill to contribute. "
My delight grew, and with it, my confusion.
Worse, her words had sparked a new urge I didn't understand at all.
I swallowed the strange-tasting saliva in my mouth, noting its texture.
It was a biological response, one I could suppress if I so chose, but I didn't want to. I wanted to experience it, even if it was uncomfortable, even if it was confusing.
Mei made me want to feel everything.